Bonn Basilica

The Pope recently revoked the excommunication of several bishops that were a part of an ultraconservative group. One of the bishops had at one point in time denied the existence of the Holocaust. In Germany, denying the Holocaust is a crime. This move by the Pope has caused him to be criticized by Angela Merkel, the Bundeskanzlerin of Germany. Despite the turmoil that is being felt in the Church in Germany, people still gathered today to celebrate Mass with one another.

I went to Mass this morning at the Basilica in Bonn. It is a beautiful building, and it was a very cool thing to be able to worship with people from another country, who speak another language. This universality, the fact that I can know what is going on at a church in Bonn, Germany when I am from Missouri, is one of the things that I like most about the Catholic Church.

The Basilica is a big open building with rock walls. As a consequence, any noise echoed quite a lot and made everything very difficult to understand. I was in a strange church, in another country, listening to a foreign language, and I still knew what was going on and where we were in the Mass. That is cool.

There were a few slight differences that I noted. There was no pause between the first and second readings. And then between the readings and the Gospel, both a Psalm and the Alleluia were sung. No one held hands while saying the Our Father. And Peace be with You was just something that everyone said all at once, not an individual greeting of the people around you.

These minor differences in the structure don't matter though. It is the content that matters and that is the same everywhere. It is comforting to me to know that I have done today what the CSC, my church in the states, is going to be doing in a few hours. There is a sense of community and unity that can literally span oceans when you are doing the same things to worship the same God.

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In other news, Leigh came down to Bonn today and we showed her the city. We went to the Beethoven house, and this time we actually went inside. We were able to take several illegal pictures from inside the house. (You weren't supposed to take pictures in the museuem, or at least that is what I assume a camera with a line through it means) We also enjoyed some cake at a local bakery. Quite a lovely day.

An organ that Beethoven played. A collection of various instruments that had some connection to Beethoven and therefore needed to be displayed in his house.

Flat Stanley with one of Beethoven's compositions

The room where Beethoven was born. Kind of weird to think that he was born at home and not in a hospital or doctor's office.

Köln otherwise known as Cologne

Today was the first weekend that I have spent in Germany. We went to the fourthe biggest city in the country, Köln. When we arrived we met up with a tour guide, Dr. Helmut Meyers, who led us on a tour through the city. Köln is 2000 years old and was originally a Roman city. All around the city remnants of the Romans can be seen, a street here, an arch there, part of the city wall. After we finished our tour through the city, Catherine, the other girl from WashU, and I met up with Leigh. Leigh is also a student at WashU but she is here through the Business school and will be working at an internship this semester with a German TV company. Here are some highlights from the day.

This is the world famous Kölner Dom. You can go up into the towers and have a great view of the city on a clear day. The detail is absolutely amazing and there are carvings and statues everywhere.

This is an arch that was part of the old city wall from when Köln was a Roman city.

This is another cathedral. It is older than the Dom but not as big or ornate.

Flat Stanley and Leigh hit it off right from the time that they met at Starbucks. What, we were in a Starbucks in Germany? Don't they have those in the US?

Flat Stanley and I enjoying a currywurst. It is a sausage covered in a sauce with curry powder on top. Eaten with french fries that you dip in a multitue of sauces.

Me and Flat Stanley chilling at Leigh's apartment in the awesome hammock

Bonn

Here is a quick overveiw of thedifferent sights to see in Bonn. We had a limited amount of time to go exploring because of that whole class thing that tends to get in the way. We were still able to see a lot and now know what to go back to investigate further.

This is the Old Post Office and the Muenster Marktplatz. There is a statue of Beethoven in the Middle you can see it right in front of the Post Office.

This is a picture on the wall of a building opposite from Beethoven's birth house. We were unable to actually go into the house because of time constrictions but we are planning on going back another day to investigate.

This is th Old City Hall. It is one of the oldest buildings in Bonn. It was rebuilt due to fire damage at one time. It is no longer in use, but it had been the city hall until sometime in the late 1900's.

This is Bonn University. The University doesn't have a central campus like universities in the US do. Instead, each department has it's own building and then the buildings are scattered all throughout the city. This is the building for the language studies department.

This is me in front of the Rhine River. To the right you can see Bad Godesberg, behind me is Bonn, and to the left you can see Koeln.

This is the Bonn Basilica. It is actually older than the Koelner Dom, which is something that the Bonn inhabitants take great pride in.

These are the heads of the patron saints of Bonn in front of the Basilica.

After our whirlwind trip through Bonn we decided it was time to get a crepe and chill out before catching the train back to Bad Godesberg for class. It was a good life decision.

Haus der Geschichte: House of History

Today's cultural activity was going to the Haus der Gesichte (History Museum) in Bonn. After breakfast I was waiting with a couple of other people to leave when one of the secretaries walked by and asked me if I was wearing an Icelandic sweater. I was. We then had a lovely chat about Iceland, and Icelandic horses, and my sweater. (Mom, this little tidbit was all for you.)

After having established that I had been to Iceland, that I had ridden horses while there, and that Missouri is too hot for Icelandic horses, I left with two other people for the History Museum. We rode the U-Bahn, subway, there. An entrance is actually rght in the subway station. The building is actually three floors and it has exhibits for many periods of German history. I was able to thoroughly read the WWII section, but that is all the time that I had because everything was in German and I read slowly, and we wanted to get back in time to get some lunch before class. We are planning on returning sometime soon to look at the other displays, especially the one about the development of the German flag.

For lunch, we again went to the cantina. I had Jaegerschnitzel with frenchfries. It was pretty tasty, much better than anything I could come up with. I am enjoying the typical German food that I have had for lunch the past couple of days.

Today's class was difficult, lots of dealing with prepositions and what prepositions are used with what verbs and in which case. I tend to think too much while analyzing the sentence, and you really just need to feel what goes where, or at least that is what my teacher told me. She said there isn't a rule to use, you just have to feel it. I hope it doesn't take too long for me to get a sense of feeling.

Bad Godesberg

I know that I have been telling everyone that I am going to be in Bonn for the first month that I am in Germany. But that is not entirely true. I am actually residing in the city of Bad Godesburg.

It is a suburb of Bonn, but it is still its own distinct entity. Bonn used to be the capitol of Germany, and capitols attract lots of politicians and diplomats. Most of these important people lived in Bad Godesberg. Today we took a walking tour with one of the Zivis around Bad Godesberg.

(Zivi stands for Zivildienst. Every male in Germany must either serve in the army or become a civil servant for a certain amount of time. The Zivis are the guys who have chosen not to serve in the army.)

We saw the house where Beethoven gave his first concert. We also saw the Algerian consulate. There are some absolutely incredible houses as you get close to the Rhine.

But not everyone in Bad Godesberg is like that. The street that the Goethe Institute is on is sort of a dividing line. As you go toward the Rhine the houses are extravagent and there are lots of very wealthy people living there. As you get farther away from the Rhine you tend to find more and more immigrants and people that do not have much money at all. The weather was pretty crummy today so I didn't take my camera on our Spaziergang (walkingtour) , but hopefully I will soon be able to get some pictures of these incredible houses.

After the walking tour the other three Americans and I headed over to the Cantina to eat. It is a cafeteria in the basement of an office building, and it's cheap. I had pork with red cabbage and potato dumplings, very German.

In class today we looked at the different languages that everyone speaks. In my class of ten there were people who reported in Persian, Arabic, English, Portugese, Spanish and Catalina. It was pretty nifty to look at the similarities and differences of all the languages, and to discuss what is the most important aspect of each language. (German is the grammar, English is the vocabulary)

First Day of School

Today was my first day of class. I have class Monday through Friday from 1:00 until 6:00. It is a long time. And we are working on a lot of grammar stuff in my class, which I don't find particularily thrilling, but it is stuff that I need to work on, imagine that, me needing to work on grammar.

My class is very diverse, there are six Afgahni women, a boy from Brazil, a girl from Argentina, another boy who speaks arabic, and me. Literally, the only way we are all able to communicate is through German. It is a pretty nifty.


Since I only have class during the afternoon, I have the entire morning to go exploring. This mornings first adventure was to the doctor's office to get some blood work done. It took a lot of time, some great Denglish by both parties, and a German-English online medical dictionary but we were finally able to get the right things ordered and I will go back later on in the week to get the results. There were several differences besides that language that were rather surprising. First, the secretaries don't print lables for vials and things on a computer, they just write names on by hand with a permanent marker. Second, the nurse drawing blood didn't wear gloves. Quite a different experience after being in American doctor's offices my enire life.


After the doctor appointment I headed out to explore the city Bad Godesburg a bit. There is a castle overlooking that city that I wanted to find the entrance too. I set my eyes on the castle and started walking. I reached the hill that the castle is situated on and started climbing when I saw signs that were pointing to the castle cemetary so I let myself get distracted. I think that it was a good life decision. The cemetary was absolutely beautiful and so different from American cemetaries. In this cemetary each plot is clearly defined by a concrete border and the land inside is very carefully tended. Each plot is like its own zen garden. And there were a couple of grave gardener's out tending to all of the displays, watering flowers, lighting candles, pulling weeds etc. There were also a few realtives cleaing up plots as well. This cemetray has been in use since 1805 when the castle was around, and it is still in us today.

Side note: I found a Hans Esch, a C. Pesch at the cemetary, and read about a Michael Lesch in the newspaper. A great day for last names.

I didn't end up making it up to the castle today because I spent so much time in the cemetary. But I always have tomorrow. On my way back to the Goethe Institute I stopped at a supermarket so that I could get some food. I had remembered to bring my shopping bag so I was pretty proud of myself.

I have finished with class for the day and have started on my homework for the night. There are four Americans here, three of which are from WashU, and we all like to stick together. Right now we are heading of to try and cook some dinner.

Here is a quick look at my room. Twobeds, two desks (with touch desklamps), two closets, and a sink. Pretty standard









This is a look down the pathway in the cemetary. You can see the concrete edges of the plots and some of the gardes on the inside. Some were more intricate than others but all were very beautiful.











This is the Mother Earth memorial. Along the bottom is the verse

"From dust you were made, and to dust you shall return"






And this is a pretty sweet poster that I found while walking around the town center. "Who has Jesus, has Life"

Destination: Deutschland

I made it. Right now I am sitting in the basement of the Goethe Institute in Bonn where I will be living for the next month. Baller.

All of my flights went off without a hitch. I flew from Springfield to Memphis where I had a two hour layover. During that time I walked some laps and ate some bbq. Then I flew to Amsterdam. That flight took a long time and by the end of it my legs were hurting a bit. I had two hours in the Amsterdam airport, during which I walked around and looked at everyone's shoes. Europeans have great taste in shoes. Except for the one lady who was wearing red, patent leather, strappy, stilettos. Did I mention it was snowing outside? The flight from Amsterdam to Frankfurt was a short one, once we got airborn. There was a technical problem with the plane and there were very strong winds, so the airport was only using one runway.

Once in Frankfurt I found the trainstation and got on a train to Bonn. I don't know why I bought a ticket thought because no one ever checked it. Maybe that was something I did wrong. Once in Bonn I went to my hostel where I spent the night. This morning, I woke up, ate breakfast at the hostel, and came to the Goethe Institute.

At the Goethe Institute I had to take a written test, and go through an inerview before I was placed in a class. There are six levels of language knowledge A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2. I am in level B2.

Level B2
Independent User B2 - Vantage
Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialisation. Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.

Classes start tomorrow. I will be going to class from 1:00 until 6:00. So I have the whole morning to explore. I am going to go get started now.

*Pictures: Top-Me and Flat Stanley getting ready to leave home

Middle-Curly and Flat Stanley on the plane from Springfield

Bottom-My room at the hostel where I spent the night.